Rugby 2004

"Disappointing to say the least."

They say anticipation is nine tenths the joy and if you were looking forward to Rugby 2004 this statement couldn't be more fitting. Like all titles based on our national sport, the gaming community in general looks forward to a title that simulates their favourite game and puts their heroes on show. And in the year of the rugby World Cup their was a extra dollop of excitement thrown into the mix. So when I (like so many other rugby fans) rushed down to my local rental store to pick up my copy of Rugby 2004 I was in for a real shock. If I was pushed I could sum up the game in one word – disappointing. Thankfully I have a bit more time and space to explain why Rugby 2004 is so disappointing and why, for most people, it will be a rent only.

Rugby games are few and far between and in the past only one rugby game has stood out from the pack – Jonah Lomu Rugby (JLR) which was developed by Codemasters. It was a fun game that simulated the game of rugby well with simple controls, enjoyable gameplay and plenty of multiplayer fun. While the graphics weren't up to scratch even at the time of release it didn't matter one bit and this went down in gaming folklore as one of the sleeper sporting hits. Unfortunately Codemasters never made a sequel and the next major rugby title came from EA in the shape of Rugby 2001 which would be best described as average. While it pushed better graphics and some nice player animations it struggled to compete with the accessibility and enjoyability of JLR. When EA announced they were following up 2001 with another game in the series hopes were high that EA could rectify many of the mistakes made in the 2001 version.

Before I start pulling this game apart I should point out some of the more positive attributes of this title. First and foremost Rugby 2004 includes nearly two thousand players and features official Super 12 licensing which means you can finally play a rugby game as the Auckland Blues or the Canterbury Crusaders. As well as that there are plenty of official stadiums and a full rugby World Cup mode where you can simulate the event with your favourite team – good timing since we are in World Cup year after all. Also included are the Tri-Nation and Six Nation tournaments (funnily enough in the manual the Six Nations is referred to as the Six Countries tournament – whats going on there?). And I cant forget the World League event where players can jump in trade players and take their team to the top of world rugby – you can even create your own players in the create-a-player mode and add your own personal touch to the squad. EA made sure that they had all their bases covered with the license and it certainly is a nice thing to have - nobody wants to play as the All Blacks when there is no C. Spencer or R. McCaw in the lineup.

The presentation of Rugby 2004 couldn't be any worse. The intro is poor and the only thing going for it is the slightly rhythmic beat – thankfully this is one part of the title that can be skipped. One part that cannot be so easily avoided is the menu system which features one of the worst in-game fonts I have ever seen. Not only is the interface clumsy, it is hard to read especially when trying to re-arranged team lineups or organise substitutions. I guess the menu system does give an indication on the rest of the game but really, where is the polish that we see in other EA Sports titles?

Interestingly enough the development team threw in a tutorial mode which is a brilliant idea. With this they could explain the rules of rugby, they could help us understand the rulings at ruck and maul play and they could teach us the inner-workings of the game. What they could have done and what the final result was are very different things. The tutorial teaches you nothing about the game of rugby – sure it shows you how to perform a line-out but it gives no help with tactics or even explain why a lineout is held. I think a person foreign to rugby would find it hard to work out exactly what is going on. Other EA titles like Madden are flagship titles for the sport with great tutorial modes teaching the ways of the sport itself, not just the game itself. A less than comprehensive manual adds to the confusion and I'm glad I play and watch rugby on a regular basis otherwise I would have been lost.

Once you get into play the game itself the problems increase exponentially - it's hard to know where to start. Possibly the most important part of a rugby game is how the ruck system works as this is where most of the game will be spent after a player is tackled. At a ruck 90% of the time the team going in with the ball will get the ball back with the turnovers happening on random occasions when the game engine thinks it is time for the other team to have a shot with the ball. Gamers have the option to engage and add players into the ruck but it should be noted that it is a complete waste of time as there is virtually no way to turnover the ball once the ruck is set and it's best to leave players out in the defensive line. If the ball becomes loose from a pass or kick a player will more than likely dive on it. If a player from each team dive for the ball it is again up to some random algorithm in the game to decide who winds up with the ball. One of the more interesting parts of the game is watching a player chase the ball back from a kick over the defensive line and watching them slide 10-15m on their side to setup for a ruck play. It is by far and away one of the worst bugs in a game I have ever seen in a sports title and it's only as funny as it is sad.

Once the halfback has the ball in hand from a ruck the real fun can begin. Spinning the ball through the back-line and into the hands of a flying wing or fullback is one of the highlights of the game and the development team managed to pull it off – well to a certain extent. The passing setup is reasonably intuitive allowing gamers to easily throw skip out or dummy passes however I found that the passing buttons seemed to be a little lagged and you would have to press the pass button and then wait about two seconds before the pass was made. Of course in that time your player is vulnerable from a big tackle from the opposition. However it is reasonably forgiving and you can pretty much throw a pass anywhere without fear of an intercept. In fact I don't think it is possible for anyone to intercept in this game as I was throwing miracle passes through three or four opposition players and it went straight to the player I wanted to whilst those three or four other players stood dumbfounded at my brilliance. A note of caution – just because you have put your winger around the outside and hes sprinting towards the line he is not a good bet to score. The further he runs the slower he will become and the opposition will eventually run him down especially if you are trying to make a full 90-100m run. It's annoying and stupid that a flying winger can be caught by a flanker because the game decides it's unfair that you can't run at full pace for over 40m.

Of course you don't have to pass it, you can always kick it. Again, to a certain extent the developers managed to get this area right. Players can put in deep kicks from first-five or second-five and it is all very realistic. However it is when you go to make a daring chip or grubber kick that you will find problems. Say you have just put Rokocoko into the open and he is flying down the wing and he only has the fullback to beat. Instead of going for a risky inside pass or take the tackle you decide a little chip kick is on so you press the chip kick button (triangle from memory). All of a sudden things go pear shaped as Rokocoko's blistering pace turns into a light jog as you work out where you want to kick it. Mean time the oppositions players are still going at full pace and close in from behind, tackling your man as he is kicking it making him knock the ball on. While this sounds all reasonable and fair it happened to me every single time I went to do a chip kick leading me to believe that it was impossible to do a chip kick with players chasing from behind. Frustrating and disappointing.

Fixed plays like line-outs and scrums are a mixed bag. Overall I felt the lineup setup was impressive and was the most promising aspect of the game. Basically you had to coordinate a throw option with your jumpers so pressing the X button to throw meant you had to use the down button to call the appropriate jumpers. Of course you also had to time your throw to be in tune with your jumpers and I felt that it worked very well and it also gave the opposition a good, fair chance of competing for the ball. However you have to wonder why EA decided to include a button that made your hooker not throw in the ball straight. That's right if you want to to commit a foul you press R3 and the lineout will not be thrown in straight and the other team will get the ball. Why on earth you would ever want to do this is beyond me and I question its inclusion in the game at all.

As in real rugby scrums are always a messy part of the game. The developers wanted to to replicate this and give plenty of options for gamers to move their pack in a scrum. You can turn a scrum if you wish or even collapse it if you want to break down the play and this is all well and good. However one problem with the scrums is the amount of times the team without the ball will get the feed and it is very easy for a gamer recover the ball back from scrums that are a computer controlled team. It can happen as much as three or four times in a twenty minute game which is totally out of proportion with the real game (you'd be lucky to see a tight-head in five games of rugby).

From line-outs, free-kicks and scrums gamers can choose from a selection of set plays. Once the play is selected it will be executed once the half back gets the ball and from their you have no control over the ball until the set play is over. The play select menu is very hard to read and it is hard to tell exactly what each player will be doing during a play. I guess this is just another area where the execution of an idea has failed. Penalties, kick-offs, 22m drop outs and conversions are all very standard with players picking a direction and then having to time a power bar with how far they want the kick to go - pretty much like Madden, Rugby 2001 or Stacey Jones Rugby league.

One of the aspects that EA were really pushing in the marketing of this title were the realistic player models and how players in the game looked just like those in real life. Well my friends this couldn't be further from the truth. If you look at the models for Andrew Merhtens and Carlos Spencer it would be hard for you to pick exactly which one is Andrew and which one is Carlos. In fact the most recognisable player in the whole game is the great Tana Umaga but that is because of his very unique facial attributes. Nobody else is easy to identify unless of course you the game tells you their number or name in the on screen display. The rest of the visuals are a mish-mash of mediocre textures, reasonable animations and varying frame rates. There are a wide range of stadiums in the game and they all look fairly nice - but the crowds that fill them are awful and are best described as a blurry mess of color and textures all moving in unison.

A game is what you make it and some people will be able to look past all the faults of this game, throw the ball wide and just have a blast with the license. I don't think many will be able to do that though with huge holes in the gameplay and so many bugs littered throughout the game. Many aspects of the game are shoddy and you can't help but feel that the developers just wanted to get this project out in time for the world cup to cash in on a market hungry for a rugby-based videogame. It seems they have to a certain extent succeeded and already sales have been high for this title and I can't help but think how many disappointed people their must be out there. Some good ideas were on display and the lineout setup is a good example of something that could be very good with a little bit of tweaking. However other aspects of the game need a little more than tweaking... Major surgery sounds more fitting.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 11/06/03